Pulsed laser with gas discharge tube - has auxiliary power supply inductive winding around tube between electrodes and is water cooled

摘要

The laser tube (1) is enclosed by heat insulating material (2) and houses the electrodes (5,6) inside each end. Wound around the outside of the tube is an inductive winding (3) connected to an a.c. supply so as to act as a heating element. The working substance (9) is inside the tube between the electrodes, and the tube is water cooled, with an opening (10,11) at each end. The ends of the tube form the cooler regions, and the electrodes which are in those regions are made of a material giving a high output. After the tube has been heated by the a.c. supply to the inductive coil, operating pulses are applied to the electrodes by a control circuit with a thyratron and a pair of capacitors. The cyclic frequency of the a.c. supply is given by a formula using the excitation pulse frequency. A second formula relates the amplitude of the a.c. supply and current with the load for heating the tube to the operating temp. and the heat dissipated.